"They always deliver": How We Are Adam helped Thornton & Ross find

Peter Baker is no stranger to challenging recruitment projects. With over 20 years’ experience personally in recruitment and Headhunting, and a team at We Are Adam ranging from individuals with up to 26 year’s and no less than 10 years’ experience in recruitment. The team have recruited multiple large headhunt campaigns and large 80+ candidates projects.

When he was approached by Thornton & Ross, part of STADA Group, about a sizable, nationwide recruitment project, he relished the challenge.

This isn’t the first time We Are Adam have recruited for Thornton & Ross. We have worked closely with the team at Thornton & Ross to fill a multitude of different roles; Pete and team completed a volume recruitment project with them in 2021, as well as dozens of one-off roles across the business. It’s safe to say that he knows them inside out and can accurately identify the perfect fit for both the role and the company.

The Project

This was a multi-vacancy project that consisted of a nationwide search to find experienced Healthcare Partnership Managers for various territories across the UK. When it came to briefing the project, Lynne Davies, Resourcing Business Partner, knew that Pete would be the perfect person to approach.

“The team at We Are Adam have been working with STADA Thornton & Ross for a several years now, and this was the second multi-vacancy project my team have successfully completed across Marketing, Sales and Commercial. We always enjoy working with them and genuinely feel part of the team” – Peter Baker

Thornton & Ross and We Are Adam have enjoyed a close relationship for many years now. We have an incredibly good understanding of their business, and what their particular needs are when it comes to candidates.

“[T]he team at We Are Adam have a really good understanding of the teams within Thornton & Ross, as well as the roles. We have had great feedback from the candidates that have already been placed with us.” – Lynne Davies, Thornton & Ross

Pete was working alongside Thornton & Ross’ internal recruitment team to fill multi-territory Healthcare Partnership Manager vacancies in different locations across the UK. The main challenge with this project was the types of candidates required. Pharmaceutical sales professionals are always in demand, often getting approached by Headhunters.

In order to counter this, Pete and the Researcher for this project, Becky, worked out a strategy to present the vacancies to potential candidates in a transparent, honest way. It was important to take a holistic approach, finding out exactly what these sales professionals wanted from their careers, and if Thornton & Ross could help them achieve this. Pete and the team got to know each candidate and their professional interests and would use this knowledge to help uncover the right person for each position.

Working with Pete

Pete and the team at We Are Adam kicked off the project the way it always starts – by having a deep dive discovery session with the team at Thornton & Ross and the key stakeholders. The team prefer to have a solid understanding of every single role and team that they recruit for, so there were a fair number of questions!

“[We Are Adam] invested time up front to get a good understanding of what we were looking for, and once they had it, they used it to great effect.” – Lynne Davies

The volume of people and the timescales in which they were needed – as soon as possible! – made this project tricky. However, we always relish a challenge! Lynne was impressed with the speed at which We Are Adam worked, and the quality of candidates which were presented to Thornton & Ross.

“Working with the team at Thornton & Ross is always a great experience, across UK and Globally with STADA, the entire team trust and value the experience and knowledge we bring, which really helps when aligning candidates and taking candidates through sometimes a long process, especially for Exec positions. Having this true alignment means consistency and effective communications which is imperative in any recruitment journey”. – Peter Baker

We Are Adam has always been about relationships over everything else. We pride ourselves on giving our candidates an excellent experience, whether they are ultimately successful or not. It brings us great pride to see the team embody our values!

“The team pulled out all the stops to get the right people for us. We received very regular updates through the whole project, on top of a scheduled weekly catch-up call.” – Lynne Davies

The Candidates

By the conclusion of the project, Pete and the team at We Are Adam had filled the majority of the Healthcare Partnership Managers vacancies, Marketing, Brand, Commercial and Executive positions across the business, with Thornton & Ross’ internal team filling the remaining positions.

“[We Are Adam] Presented us with shortlists of very high-calibre candidates to choose from. The quality of the research into candidates was just great.” – Lynne Davies

As part of the recruitment process, selected candidates were to spend the day at Thornton & Ross’ Assessment Centre. Pete and the team worked with both Thornton & Ross and the candidates to help co-ordinate access to the Assessment Centre for all candidates, as well as helping to facilitate an online alternative for those who were unable to travel to the site on the day.

All of the candidates reported that their experience, whether successful or not, was a positive one – something which we always strive for at We Are Adam!

“Although we are early days after the project, I am very confident that our newest team members are going to succeed and thrive in their roles.” – Lynne Davies

When asked what stood out to her about working with We Are Adam, Lynne had the following to say:

“There are a lot of recruitment agencies out there and I’ve worked with many in my career, but few that stand out like We Are Adam, who always deliver. They are a smaller boutique style agency that partner very closely with their clients to really understand the roles and commercial drivers well and can therefore then match the relevant skillset of candidates to meet the current and future business needs.” – Lynne Davies

And it seems that this project has left its mark on Pete and the team at We Are Adam too..

“It’s is a real pleasure to help a business like Thornton & Ross grow, seeing and hearing about successes across the team is what’s it’s all about”. – Peter Baker

We want to extend a huge thank you to Lynne Davies for generously giving up her time to help us produce this case study.